DAVID GONZALEZ | FC
The Ten Commandments monument at St. Thomas Aquinas in New Port Richey.

Knights supersize the 10 rules of God

DENISE O’TOOLE KELLY | FLORIDA CATHOLIC

Published: 12.14.07

Two all “don’t covets,” special Sabbath, let us pray . . .

Nope. A jingle won’t work for the Ten Commandments the way it has for McDonald’s signature sandwich. Fewer people in a recent survey of 1,000 Americans could recall the 10 biblical rules than could name the components of a Big Mac — due in large part to a once-ubiquitous TV and radio campaign from decades ago. (If you’re older than 40, get it out of your system now: “two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame-seed bun.”)

Without the light touch of Madison Avenue to solve the problem of Christians losing touch with the Old Testament underpinnings of their faith, Knights of Columbus councils throughout Florida are trying something much heavier: 800- to 900-pound marble or granite monuments etched with the Decalogue and installed in highly visible places on parish grounds.

“The monument reminds us where we came from and where we’re going,” said Ralph Snow, immediate-past Grand Knight of Council 10034 at St. Timothy Parish in Lady Lake, where one of the first such monuments in Florida was installed last year. “We should stand up for what we believe and not be ashamed. We’re supposed to be disciples of God. How are we going to be disciples if we hide it away?”

Snow began raising funds for St. Timothy’s red-granite monument — which can be seen by passing motorists — after reading in a national Knights of Columbus publication about Project Moses, a national nonprofit organization that has been working with Christian and Jewish groups since 2004 to establish displays of the Ten Commandments on private religious properties. Like Snow, a few other Knights leaders in Florida heard about the program and reached out to Project Moses’ executive director, Joe Worthing. But the effort to bring monuments to Florida parishes took off in earnest this past May, when Worthing spoke at the state Knights of Columbus convention in Orlando.

“I’ve seen a lot of enthusiasm from the Knights around the country, but the Florida Knights, they wiped me out,” Worthing said in a telephone interview from his Omaha office. He said nearly 50 Knights councils either have acquired or are in the process of acquiring monuments for Florida parishes.

‘NO ONE CAN TAKE THEM DOWN’

Project Moses began in response to a series of court rulings requiring that displays of the Ten Commandments be removed from public property.

“For 30 years political battles have taken place in courtrooms,” said Worthing, noting that opponents of the decisions couldn’t do much to fight them. The idea behind the local monument aspect of Project Moses is to allow people to display the commandments on property they control, where nobody can order them to be taken down. “For the first time, people feel they can tangibly do something,” Worthing said.

That aspect appealed to Mark Chauvin, grand Knight of Santa Maria Council 4999, which serves St. Patrick Parish in Juno Beach, St. Francis of Assisi in Riviera Beach and St. Clare in North Palm Beach.

“I like the idea that we can put these monuments up and no one can take them down. As soon as I can, I would like to get it started. I have to get an OK from the pastors. I think this is a good thing to do,” he said.

Through Project Moses, more than 300 monuments have been placed in 38 states, mostly on church and synagogue property, which, Worthing argued, may be more important places than the public sites from which they’ve been removed.

“Remember, if the first place someone sees the Ten Commandments is at a courthouse, that is probably why he is there,” Worthing said.

The marble or granite monuments from Project Moses are taller than 5 feet, and are 40 inches wide and 24 inches deep at the base. They cost $4,000 to $4,500, depending on material, not including shipping and installation costs.

At St. Timothy in Lady Lake, the money was secured from a sponsoring funeral home. But in most cases, the money is raised through parishioners. Anyone who donates $30 or more receives an 8-inch-by-8-inch plaque of the Ten Commandments for his or her home. The Knights councils buy the plaques from Project Moses for $12.50 apiece. Any money collected over and above the cost of the monument can be kept by the Knights council for local charity work, and the organization recently started a program through national donors to help councils that can’t raise enough to get the monuments otherwise.

Getting the small plaques into people’s homes is part of the mission, Worthing said. “Our goal is to get people to know these things and to live them more fully.”

BEATITUDES INCLUDED, TOO

The Ten Commandments’ inscriptions are available in the Jewish, St. Augustine or King James numbering traditions. For Christian congregations, the monuments also include the beatitudes and the two great commandments from Matthew’s Gospel.

“If you read the Ten Commandments and follow them, there would be no trouble in the world,” said Duke Zuzio, a Knights of Columbus member from St. Thomas Aquinas Council 11497 in New Port Richey, who spearheaded putting a monument at the parish earlier this year. “If you turn around and go on the other side and read the beatitudes, they’re important also for people’s behavior. And maybe, just maybe, we would change some people’s behavior and thinking in the world.”

Zuzio said he often sees people stop to read the monument or take pictures of it.

“It’s a great teaching opportunity,” said the parish’s pastor, Father Michael Lydon. “We hope it’s a way of reinforcing the teachings of God in their minds and helping them to know they can use that as a guideline in their lives.”

The monument is on a roadway leading in and out of the parish.

“It’s in a good spot,” said longtime parishioner Rose LaGalia. “If people would only stop and look at it and think about it every once in awhile. ... Some people are in too much of a hurry to get where they’re going, they may not know where they’re going.”

ADDITIONAL MONUMENTS PLANNED

While the monuments are in place in Lady Lake and New Port Richey, other Knights councils throughout the state are in various stages of planning and fundraising.

The St. Paul the Hermit Council 1422 at St. Mark the Evangelist Parish in Summerfield followed the lead of the Knights at nearby St. Timothy and secured a major sponsor — also a funeral home — to pay for a monument to be installed there once the parish’s new church is built.

“It’s a very beautiful and wonderful thing. How very appreciative we are to the funeral services involved for their donation,” said Robert Sabatino, the council’s grand Knight. “St. Mark is trying to build a spanking new church. The monument will fit in just beautifully.”

Pat Vernino is a parishioner at St. Paul Parish in Leesburg and had seen a story about the monument on cable’s Eternal Word Television Network. “I have a friend who lives in The Villages,” she said, “and when I drove up to visit her I drove by St. Timothy to see the monument. I knew we needed to have one at St. Paul.”

She called Grand Knight Robert Heitzman of the parish’s St. Paul Council 5644, who successfully pitched the idea to the pastor. Heitzman was so taken by the monument that he has an 18-inch model on his dining room table.

“It’s made of black granite with gold lettering and weighs 35 pounds. I can’t think of a better place in my home for it to be,” he said.

Carl Jackson, grand Knight of St. Therese Council 13389 at Little Flower Parish in Pensacola, said his group and the pastor are interested in securing a monument, but are waiting until a building project is complete. Then they will be able to choose the most appropriate place for the monument, he said.

“It’s a good thing to have in front of the church, to show people our beliefs,” Jackson said.

In the Archdiocese of Miami, Clifton Day, grand Knight of Holy Spirit Council 6032 in Miramar, which serves St. Bartholomew and St. Stephen parishes, jumped on the Project Moses bandwagon. Plans for a fundraising weekend for St. Stephen Parish have been put on hold until March.

At St. Bartholomew Parish, the Knights are working with Project Moses to raise awareness of the Ten Commandments by promoting the in-home plaques in exchange for donations, but the funds are not being used for a monument, at least not yet.

“We need to get the Ten Commandments in French,” said Day, noting that most of the congregation’s members are of Haitian descent and speaks Creole, a language that is based primarily on French but has significant differences. “We could do more with French.”

SEE IT ON YOUTUBE

Project Moses director Worthing said French might be in the future. The EWTN program reached into Canada, and the organization would be willing to produce a French monument if it gets enough orders to justify the design and initial production costs.

Meanwhile, Worthing — whose group worked with producers of “The Ten Commandments” animated film released this fall on the survey that showed the Big Mac won the memory showdown — is still jokingly pondering the possibilities for a jingle. With the local monuments effort as well as an effort to construct a national Judeo-Christian memorial in Washington, D.C., on Project Moses’ plate, the organization needs something to capture and hold the public’s attention. Maybe a catchy theme song could help: After all, the Ten Commandments survey participants also had an easier time remembering the names of the kids from the old TV series “The Brady Bunch.”

For now though, Project Moses’ biggest foray into pop culture is a three-minute video that can be downloaded on a hot Internet site.

“We’re out on YouTube,” Worthing said.

Ana Rodriguez-Soto, Linda Reeves, Peggy DeKeyer and Carlos Briceno of the Florida Catholic staff, correspondent Laura Dodson and Catholic News Service contributed to this story.

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